Today News Headlines for School Assembly, March 13, 2026: US refuelling aircraft crashes in Iraq

India’s headline retail inflation rate rose to 3.21% in February from 2.74% in January, data released on Thursday by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed.

Amid furore over reported LPG shortage in the country due to the Middle East conflict, Union Minister for Petroleum, Hardeep Singh Puri, denied any such issue. After Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the Centre over the “shortage”, Puri said LPG production has been increased in the last five days.

International

US refuelling aircraft crashes in western Iraq, with rescue efforts underway. The incident involved two planes, and the second aircraft landed safely. US Central Command stated that the crash wasn’t due to hostile or friendly fire, and it’s currently unclear what caused the incident. The KC-135, built by Boeing in the 1950s and early 1960s, has served as the backbone of the US military’s air refueling fleet and is critical to allow aircraft to carry out missions without having to land.

A drone crashed in Dubai’s Al Bada’a area on Thursday (Mar 12), with authorities reporting no injuries. The Dubai Media Office, in a post on X, said, “Dubai authorities are responding to a minor drone incident in the Al Bada’a area. No injuries have been reported.

US President Donald Trump’s administration said it was launching two new trade investigations into excess industrial capacity in 16 major trading partners and into forced labour, to rebuild tariff pressure after the US. The Supreme Court tore down much of Trump’s tariff program last month.

Sports

The first phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 schedule was announced, as defending champion Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the season opener at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, March 28.

The last group of players of the West Indies and the South Africa T20 World Cup teams, who were stuck in India due to the Israel-USA’s war with Iran, have flown out of India safely, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced in a statement.

Business

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade of India (DPIIT) has clarified that entities “registered” in China and Hong Kong and countries sharing land borders with India will continue to need prior government approval in case they want to invest in India.

Recent measures taken by the government for maintaining continuous liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or cooking gas, supplies to households amid the West Asia conflict have led to a 25% increase in domestic LPG production, and there is no need for panic booking of LPG cylinders by households, a senior Petroleum Ministry official said.

Education

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has unveiled a new English textbook for Class 9, titled Kaveri, which places greater emphasis on Indian writers and elements of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS).